EU to enhance anti-terrorism cooperation after Brussels attacks

People mourn the victims in front of the Stock Market in downtown Brussels, Belgium, March 23, 2016. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)

BRUSSELS, March 24 -- The European Union (EU) pledged to enhance its collective ability to combat terrorism on Thursday in the wake of deadly Brussels attacks.

The justice and security ministers of the EU member states held an extraordinary meeting two days after the terror atrocity in Brussels as a series of explosions at its airport and a metro station have caused at least 31 deaths.

The meeting was intended to show the EU's solidarity with Belgium, discuss the actual state of play in the fight against terrorism and pursue swift completion and implementation of legislation.

The ministers decided to adopt the air passenger name record(PNR) directive in April 2016 and implement it as a matter of urgency. The measure will ensure that passenger information units(PIUs) exchange data between them as soon as possible.

The ministers renewed their calls for more intelligence sharing and use of EU databases like the Schengen information system or Europol's database.

According to a joint statement released by the ministers after the meeting, the EU will present by June 2016 concrete deliverables, in particular to improve the collecting, checking and connecting of information in the field of counter terrorism;

In this context, the ministers urged the relevant sectors to accelerate the development of a European wide automated fingerprint recognition system integrated into the Schengen Information System(SIS).

The EU member states said they will fully support the work of the Counter Terrorism Group (CTG), in particular by further accelerating the establishment of a dedicated platform for real time, multilateral information exchange.

Meanwhile, learning from recurrent patterns in terrorist attacks and supporting networks, the ministers encouraged the regular use of joint investigation teams. The teams have demonstrated their usefulness after the attacks in Paris, to coordinate investigations and gather and exchange evidence, they said.

Furthermore, the EU will set up a joint liaison team of national counter-terrorism experts at Europol's European Counter Terrorism Centre (ECTC). This team will draw on Europol's law enforcement capabilities to monitor the threat from foreign fighters, the flows of terrorist financing and illegal firearms, and online propaganda.

After Paris attacks last November, a number of necessary steps have already been taken in fighting against terrorism. However, the ministers said they will pursue ongoing work in a resolute manner.

The ministers called for swift completion of the legislation on combating terrorism, on systematic checks at external borders of the Schengen area, on control of the acquisition and possession of firearms and on the extension of the European Criminal Records Information System (ECRIS) to third-country nationals.

They urged EU member states to speed up their implementation of the action plan to fight terrorism financing.

Meanwhile, the ministers expressed their support and solidarity to Belgium, saying that they will stand determined in the common fight against terrorism.